Rolls-Royce has given US-based activist investor ValueAct a seat on its board.

The move gives the investor influence over the engine maker, which announced in February plans to implement further cost cuts on top of the £200 million savings already announced.

ValueAct will retain its board seat for as long as it continues to hold its 10 per cent stake in Rolls-Royce.

Rolls-Royce is bidding to reverse its fortunes after a series of profit warnings and its first cut in dividend in 24 years in the 2015 financial year.

The group booking a 12 per cent slump in profits to £1.4 billion last year and slashed its final dividend 50 per cent in a bid to conserve cash.

The group said Bradley Singer - a partner and chief operating officer at San Francisco-based fund ValueAct – will be appointed as a member of its science and technology committee.

Rolls and ValueAct have also signed a relationship agreement covering share dealings and corporate governance matters.

Rolls said Singer's appointment follows the standard “rigorous selection process” it applies to all non-executive directors.

However Singer will not be considered an independent non-executive director, under UK corporate governance rules.

Singer, a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, previously held senior roles with Discovery Communications, which owns the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.

He is also a director of Motorola Solutions and a former director of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Citizens Communications.

Ian Davis, chairman of Rolls-Royce, said: “Bradley Singer has an outstanding record as a business leader.

“He brings with him experience of public companies during periods of change, growth and significant financial outperformance, particularly in the US where Rolls-Royce has important business interests and a significant shareholder base.”

Davis added Singer's “sense of how the US market works will be very valuable”.

Singer said it was a “privilege” to join the Rolls board.

He added: “I have been deeply impressed with the senior leadership team and directors of Rolls-Royce and their commitment to improving their operations to match the company's world-class product portfolio and engineering capabilities.”

ValueAct was understood to be keen to sell Rolls-Royce's marine arm, which supplies engines to the oil business, though Rolls-Royce chief executive Warren East, who joined the firm last July, had indicated he plans to keep the core of the group together.

ValueAct is now reported to be content to put its call for a sale of the marine business on hold while other cuts are made.